Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1210

Rh 1106 NICOMEDES. nient of this article), and also Corybas (ifjid. 40. § 42). Stobaeus (Serm. 61) has preserved an interest- ing saying of Nicomachus. An amateur remarking to him that he could see no beauty in the Helen of Zeuxis, the painter, replied, " Take my eyes, and a goddess will be revealed to you." The same an- swer is ascribed by Aelian ( V. II. xiv. 47) to a certjiin Nicostratus, who is not mentioned else- where, and whose name is therefore probably an error for Nicomachus. 2. A statuary or sculptor, whose name appears on a marble base recently discovered in Athens. From the form of the letters, the date of th^ in- scription is supposed to fall in the time of the eiirliest successors of Alexander. (Ross and Thiersch, in the Kunstblatt for 1840, p. 4:1).) 3. The engraver of a gem representing a Faun sitting on a tiger's skin. (Bracci, tab. 87 ; Stosch, 44.) [P. S.] NICO'MACHUS, MF/TIUS FALCO'NIUS, stood second on the roll of consular senators at the death of Aurelian. His speech, in which he urged Tacitus to accept the purple, has been preserved by Vopiscus. (Vopisc. Tacit. Q', Tacitus.) [W. R.] NICOME'DES I. (Ni/coAtrfSrjs), king of Bithy- nia, was the eldest son of Zipoetes, whom he succeeded on the throne, b. c. 278. (Memnon, c. 20, ed. Orell. ; Clinton, vol. iii. p. 411.) Like many other Eastern potentates it appears that he commenced his reign by putting to death two of his brothers, but the third, Zipoetes, raised an insurrection against him, and succeeded in main- taining himself for some lime in the inde]iendent sovereignty of a considerable part of Bithynia. Meanwhile, Nicomedes was threatened with an invasion from Antiochus I., king of Syria, who had already made war upon his father, Zipoetes, and to strengthen himself against tliis danger, he concluded an alliance with Heracleia, and shortly afterwards with Antigonus Gonatas. The threat- ened attiick, however, passed over with little injury. Antiochus actually invaded Bithynia, but withdrew again without risking a battle. It was apparently as much against his revolted subjects as his foreign enemies that Nicomedes now called in the assistance of more powerful auxiliaries, and entered into an alliance with the Gauls, who, under LeonnoriUs and Lutarius, were arrived on the opposite side of the Bosporus, and were at this time engaged in the siege of Byzantium, b. c. 277. Having furnished them with the means of crossing over into Asia, he first turned the arms of his new auxiliaries against his brother, Zipoetes, whom he defeated and put to death, and thus re- united the whole of Bithynia under his dominion. (Memnon, c. 16, 18, 19 ; Liv. xxxviii. 16 ; Justin. XXV. 2.) Of the events that followed we have little information ; it is probable that the Gauls subse- quently assisted Nicomedes against Antiochus (Trog. Pomp. prol. xxv ; comp. Droysen, Ildlenism. vol. ii. p. 178), but no particulars are recorded either of the war or the peace that terminated it. It appears, however, that Nicomedes was left in the undisturbed possession of Bithynia, which he contimied to govern from this time till his death, and which rose to a high degree of power and prosperity during his long and peaceful reign. In imitation of so many others of the Greek rulers of Aftia, he determined to perpetuate his own name by the foundation of a new capital, and the site NICOMEDES, which he chose, in the immediate neighbourhood o{ the Megarian colony of Astacus, was so judiciously selected that the cit}' of Nicomedeia continued for more than six centuries to be one of the richest and most flourishing in Asia. (Memnon, c. 20 ; Strab. xii. p. 563 ; Steph, Byz. v. NiK:o;U.v7Seia, who erroneously calls Nicomedes son of Zei'las ; Euseb. Chron. 01. 129. 1 ; Pans. v. 12. § 7; Tzetz. Chil. iii. 950.) The foundation of Nico- medeia is placed by Eusebius (/, c.) in b. c, 264. The duration of the reign of Nicomedes himself after this event is unknown, but his death is assigned with muoh probability by the Abbe Sevin (il/e/rt. de l^Acad. des Inscr. tom. xv. p. 34) to about the year b. c. 250. He had been twice married ; by his first wife, Ditizela, a Phrygian by birth (who had been accidentally killed by a favourite dog belonging to the king), he had two sons, Prusias and Zielas, and a daughter, Lysan- dra ; but his second wife, Etazeta, persuaded him to set aside his children by this former marriage, and leave his crown to her offspring. The latter were still nifants at the time of his death, on which account he confided their guardianship by his will to the two kings, Antigonus Gonatas and Ptolemy, together with the free cities of Heracleia, Byzan- tium and Cius. But, notwithstanding this pre- caution, his son Zielas quickly established himself on the throne. [Zielas,] (Memnon. c. 22 ; Arrian ap. Tzetz. CkiL iii. 960 ; Plin. //. A^. viii. 40 (61), who calls the first wife of Nicomedes, Consingis.) It is probably this Nicomedes who sought to purchase from the Cnidians the celebrated statue of Venus, by Praxiteles, by offering to remit the whole public debt of the city. (Plin. H. N. vii. 39, xxxvi. 4. § 21.) [E. H. B.] NICOME'DES II., sumamed Epiphanes, king of Bithynia, was son of Prusias II., and fourth in descent from the preceding. He is first mentioned as accompanying his father to Rome in B. c. I(i7, where they were favourably received by the senate (Liv. xlv. 44) At this time he must have been a mere child ; but, as he grew up, the popularity of the young prince incurred the jealousy of Prusias, who, wishing to remove him out of the sight of the Bithynians, sent him to Rome as a kind of hostage. Here we find him in B. c. 155, sup- porting the ambassadors of Prusias, who were sent to defend that monarch against the complanits of Attains II., king of Bithynia. (Polyb. xxxii. 26.) Nicomedes remained at Rome till B.C. 149, and had, during his residence there, risen to a high place in the favour of the senate ; but this only served to increase the suspicions and enmity of Prusias, who at length despatched Menas to Rome with an embassy to the senate, but with secret instructions to effect the assassination of the prince. But Menas, on finding the favour which Nicomedes enjoyed at Rome, instead of executing his instruc- tions, divulged them to the prince himself, and in conjunction with Andronicus, the ambassador of Attains, urged him to dethrone his father, who had rendered himself by his vices the object of universal contempt and hatred. Nicomedes readily listened to their suggesti(ms, and departing secretly from Rome landed in Epeirus, where he openly assumed the title of king, and proceeded to the court of Attains, who received him with open arms, and prepared to support his pretensions with an anny Prusias, abandoned by his subjects, took refuge in the citadel of Nicaoa, from whence he wrote tu